Tuesday, September 16, 2014

Project Cubbins: Hat 478 - A Short Eighth Note Edition

Day 478 / Hat 478: Black, baseball-style cap with adjustable Velcro closure in back and red (and a tiny bit of accent orange embroidery on front of a musical note. Additional embroidery on back reads: "Music City" in white script with same musical note (albeit in a much smaller size) between the two words in red embroidery. Interior label reads: "Otto Collection, 18-686, 100% cotton, one size fits most, made in China, RN129002."As I'm not musically inclined, I had to look up what kind of note it is -- based on my cursory search of the interwebs it is called an eighth note (in the U.S. and Canada) known as a "quaver" in other English-speaking countries. As the very definition of an eighth note is one held for one-eighth the duration of a whole note, dubbing this entry to the Project a "Short Eighth" might seem out of place. Not so!You see, this hat as handed to me just yesterday by my boss of bosses -- whose name happens to be Alice Short. (Don't take my word for it -- take a look at the masthead of today's - or any day's -- Los Angeles Times.)Ms. Short procured said lid during a recent business trip to Nashville, Tennessee, which, as I'm sure you're figuring out by now, goes by the nickname "Music City" (the city's nickname - not Alice's).She hand-delivered to my desk yesterday for inclusion in the Project.Which, therefore makes it a high note of sorts too. You see, over the past 477 hats I've had co-workers, loved ones and strangers hand me hats. And, while my direct up-line bosses have clearly tolerated my enthusiastically Seussian side endeavour, I never thought in all my (nearly) 500 hats one of them would throw their hat in my ring.It goes without saying -- but I'll say it anyway - today's hat -tip goes to Alice Short. Thanks, boss!Related:PC 278: Spago AmigoPC 178: Life of PieA Year Ago Today in Project CubbinsQ: OK, nice hat -- but what exactly is Project Cubbins, anyway?

A: One man's homage to Dr. Seuss and his second book, "The 500 Hats of Bartholemew Cubbins," which celebrated the 75th anniversary of its publication in 2013, Project Cubbins is an attempt to document the wearing of a different hat or piece of headgear every day for 500 consecutive days. No do-aheads, no banking of hats, no retroactive entries. PC started on May 27, 2013 with Hat 1.

About Me

Adam Tschorn is currently a staff writer at the Los Angeles Times where his coverage of fashion, style and popular culture most often appears online at All The Rage and in the hard copy of the Sunday Los Angeles Times Image section.

He's been covering menswear since 2004 and wearing it much, much longer than that. He holds a BA in philosophy and an MA in journalism, which has prepared him perfectly for watching fashion shows and asking: "Why?"